I went down to Falkner Mazda (great people great service). They had just received 3 Rx-8's today all automatic. One Black, Red, and silver. First Red on Black looks to teenage and im 16, Im going with the all Cloth interior because it looks feels better then the all black leather interior. It’s like having the highest grade cloth and the lowest grade leather, for example i hate the ribs in the leather but love them in the cloth. And ill tip my hat to herc, the black looks stupendous, im waiting to see if the blue looks to cheesy on the car, if so black will be my choice. So here’s the NEW INFO for those getting the DVD player that plays through the navi the DVD player is located see picture below. (Hope that’s posted no where else). Now even though its an automatic, it was a blast, the power delivery felt as linear as the graph, and the way the car cornered was incredible it took half as much effort as any other car I’ve ever seen. I was tempted to put the deposit down on a blue one coming into the deanship mid sept. but as i said im waiting to see the color before i decided. I Cant Wait!

FYI check out cloth b4 you buy i was going to buy this car on complete faith but im glad i took a look at the leather and the cloth.

 

I changed my order to a Black RX-8. Does it really look as good in person as the photos? I did have a silver on order, but cancelled it and was trying to decide between red or black and all of the pictures I have seen of the 8 in black look incredible. Do tell all the details. Also, I thought the dvd based navigation was not compatible for dvd viewing of our normal dvd movies.

 

very good choice miss comet!
you are correct...though i'm sure someone, somewhere will figure out a way to get it to read regular DVDs or (and this is more likely) some aftermarket manufacturer will make a unit to replace the original that will read both NAV and regular DVDs.

 

I've never had a navi or a nor will i be ordering one, but why else would there be a dvd player in the car if it couldn't play movies through the navi?

 

because DVD stores a lot more than CD and the information can be accessed at a faster rate despite the slower drive speeds
________
*** Mature

 

Halley i believe Black looks incredible on the car as classy as can be, if the blue looks to much like a im a boy racer blue its my second choice please take a look at cloth its really well done.

 

there is an aftermarket navigation system that actually let u play both dvd movie and navi, it is made by pioneer.

the model for this model is NAV-SYS910DVD. It's a pretty good system but the price is just too much...$3500?! it's cheaper than factory and it also come with a screen but you can buy it off from ebay for only aroun $2500 or less. :D

 

PoLaK, you're maybe the first one here who can report firsthand on the drivability, power, and fun factor of the automatic. Please, give us an in-depth report!!

 

Just to be **** - CD-ROM maxes out at 800 MB per disc; DVD-ROM can accomodate 4.7 GB. That's why many older CD-ROM based nav systems required 4-6 discs to cover the U.S. and you had to order the proper disc for your area; most of the DVD-based systems now use a single disc for the entire continental U.S.

 

Does anyone have pictures or links for pictures of cloth seats? just curious cause the car i have on order is cloth, and im thinking about reserving another car but diff color, but w/ leather. What's ur take?

 

BTW, i noticed u were in the back seat ) was it more roomier than expected or no? :P

 

I hope you are a responsible 16 year old , it'd make a lot of people very upset to see a trashed RX-8 that some irresponsible bratty child's parents bought him.

BTW, your parents are crazy, IMO, for buying a 16 year old a 30k car. Pisses me off a bit actually, I have to do this wierd thing called work my *** off to get one, and some rich spoiled kid gets one for free...yeah .

Congrats, I guess I'm jealous that I have to work for mine...just don't prove me right and be responsible and respect the car unlike most spoiled brats I've known in the past.

 

He used a photo I took way back in April. Yes the backseat is roomier then it seems on photos

 

The whole bratty teenager thing has been discussed at length on onother thread.

As much as it pains me (since I can't get my rx-8 yet, since I am working my *** off paying for a minivan for my family), we have to respect the younger forum members, for no matter how we feel about the wisdom of their parent's decision, they are still RX-8 owners.

Trust me, since I had to work my butt off for my $500 car when I was 16, I would like nothing better than to start a tirade of bashing Mr. Polak. But that would only start a big fight, and we are all too mature for that, right?

Besides, I suppose there are worse cars for a teenager...like a Mustang Cobra or a used Camaro SS. I would much rather my teen be in an rx-8, especially an automatic. (Thankfully, I won't have to make that decision for many more years. You can bet my girls will be in a 3 year old protege or base Mazda6 equivalent though.)

 

It's very strange that Falkner Mazda did not have any preorders sold?? This is one of the biggest Mazda dealers in the Philly area.
That's not a good sign.

 

Just to clear things up as I’ve done a number of times on this forum the money is 100% mine, I will not let my mother pay for half or anything. The money im putting down a whooping 15k comes from investments and working 2 years at a chain supermarket. Which im sure isn't nearly as cushy as whatever you do. Not only am I putting 15k down that’s all mine im also financing the car because my parents are not rich and do no have 100k+ jobs, my mother works the state health dept. and my dad's retired after 3 heart attacks. Its not fair to assume ever kid getting this car is a lil brat, some are responsible, hardworking, and trust worthy people.

 

I ordered mine at Faulkner and my dealer just called me to let me know that I could come down and test drive them at any time. I'll prob do it today or tomorrow....

Since I'm getting an AT, this is great b/c I'll actually get to test this sucker out!

As for pre-orders, my sales rep did tell me that they were all accounted for... maybe I should call back to see if I could get one of these.... but I want Winning Blue sooo bad....

BTW - still no VIN for me..... =(

 

I wonder if I could switch to the silver that they have......

 

Polak...no offense intended at all, but why aren't you taking that 15K and putting it in the bank or in an investment for a university? That would be a good start.

I worked hard enough at 16 to pay for a car too, but I was too busy putting money away for college. Thank God I did, since I only had about $8k in students loans to pay, and I have friends who are still paying them off after 10 years.

You may be hard working, and deserve the rx-8, but I still question your wisdom. Plus all the insurance costs, gas costs, etc.

Seems to me you would be better off in a nice 4-5 year old Honda Civic, Mazda protege, or even an Accord. Maybe a used Acura Integra.

Sure you wouldn't be as "cool", but you would be saving a lot of that hard earned money for some other time when you might really need it. (Just trying to give out some good advice, take it or leave it.)

Bottom line, it's your money, do what you want. But it would suck to have a 10 year old RX-8 one day, but not much else because you didn't have the money to get a good education so that you could get a good job and continue moving upward.

Trust me, I'm not saying that money is everything, since loving it is the root of all evil. But there is a certain thing which most American's don't understand...it's called "delayed gratification". I am feeling it now, because I really want an RX-8, but my family really needed a minivan. I could stretch the budget and still get it, but that wouldn't be wise or prudent. So I am waiting.

Just my 2 cents...

 

good job polak,glad to see there are some responsiable teens out there working for what they want,enjoy your car .

 

Drivability: I'm a manual aficionado so im not going to tell you that an automatic is more drivable then a stick because people that say that have never driven a stick. The steering wheel felt very firm and was much smaller then what im used to driving 96 accord that feels like im steering a bus. Paddle shifters are well placed and easy to use. The cabin noise is very minimal with the auto, donno if its to the same degree with the manual but i had to open the window a couple times just to hear it prrrrrrr. The car was Reved to 6250, and then shifted. (It still sounded good no matter what)

Power: The pick-up felt firm and well thought out, a calculated piece a masterful engineering. I've driven a variety of cars including a 300hp+ auto-x turned eclipse, to a 1990 Honda accord. The rx-8 can't be compared to anything off the top of my head; I’ve never been in a freer revving responsive car. You could feel the power just snap your neck back and not be peaky or let off till you did.

Fun to Drive: The car is much more refined and classy then what I'd expect from Mazda it felt almost ... German from the inside. This made it a blast to drive. The car just screams im an engineering masterpiece in every respect. Everything works, its just so perfect! Only thing that pissed me off was the Navi saying in quarter mile please turn left. (Couldn’t figure out how to turn it off). This is the most fun I’ve ever had with a car and its still only the auto I can't wait to try out a manual!

 

Im a Smart kid I planning on going to Northeastern or Drexel, none of which are cheep schools. But I’ve been told it should be easy enough to get scholarships to both of them not full but enough to take off the financial burden. If not there are always Student loan with very low %'s now at days that shouldn't be too hard to pay off considering those 2 schools co-op programs.



Co-op: the university places you as an intern in a big name corporation in the field you wish to work in. My case Information Technologies so IBM, SUN Microsystems, etc.... As an intern im hoping to make at least 10k a college year which should help tremendously.

 

I believe we need to leave the jersey boy alone -- he is doing just fine. I bought my first new vehicle at 18, and my first corvette at 22.

Best years of my life ! I would not change anything.

He knows what he is doing

 

polak,

I paid for my way through college and it's not that easy. After working 30+ hrs and going to school full time you don't want to study. But you have to. Diff. Equations is a beotch when you've only gotten an average of 5 hrs of sleep a night for months on end. I came out of college thinking it was the hardest time i've ever had in life. If I had an extra 15k for living expenses I wouldn't have had to work as hard. Having a nice ride isn't very cool when you don't have time to enjoy your woman in it.

But is sounds like you've got it all figured out. I'm sure your parents will help out a little more than your letting on.

The General

 

You win my patronisation award of the day. I can't believe you are so disrespectful as to say this, incredible. Polak: enjoy your car and ignore this person.